Russian Energy Dominance Threatens Europe, United States

The Heritage Foundation has published a new backgrounder on the issue of Europe's reliance on energy resources from Russia. The backgrounder was authored by Dr. Ariel Cohen, Senior Research Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Security at the Heritage Foundation, and was published to the Heritage Foundation web site November 5.

In "Europe's Strategic Dependence on Russian Energy," Dr. Cohen writes that Russia is tightening its control of energy resources vital to European nations. According to the backgrounder, the purpose of this Russian strategy is to make European nations completely dependent on Russian energy sources, furthering the divide between Europe and the United States. And European nations seem to be going along so far, with Dr. Cohen noting that Austria, Italy, and Hungary have each reached energy agreements with Russia that could sabotage European Union energy projects.

Given Russia's tightening grip on energy resources vital to European nations, the backgrounder says, European nations must begin to work together to achieve energy security. To help with this objective, Dr. Cohen says, the United States should take a number of steps, including working with European governments to solve energy vulnerabilities, supporting the diversification of routes used for energy transportation in Eurasia, and continuing to work for Russia's compliance with the Energy Charter.